Another successful homeless Stand Down. This year the all day service fair took place at Public Auditorium in Downtown Cleveland. This is the 22 year of this event that serves both veterans and non-veteran homeless people. They served at least 1,200 people this year and around 200 of those individuals were veterans. WKYC had a really nice report on the event both yesterday and today. The Channel 3 story featured our own William Gilmore and our Street Voices speaker Don Messitt who have attended many of these events. (Update: Fox 8 also had a nice story about Don Messit.) Handson Northeast Ohio took over the event two years ago and did a great job with the event. Public Auditorium was a much bigger facility and was a better place to hold the event. Parking was rough, but it was a great event. Parking was probably rough because there were so many volunteers and social service providers present that it made such a great event for homeless people. This was probably the largest medical support staff of any of the 21 previous Stand Downs.

One of the most popular items was the portraits that the Cleveland Photographic Society take of homeless people. This was probably the most well documented Stand Downs in our history with dozens of photographers at the event. There was food donated, hygiene kits, job training, and a large number of services for veterans. The donated items for veterans disappeared quickly because so many veterans showed up. Larry Davis from NEOCH handled transportation, and there were dozens of vans transporting families, individuals and couples to Public Auditorium. Handson is doing a mobile Stand Down over the next week delivering goods and services to people living in the shelters.